Forum Truth is made up of men and women primarily living in and around Sarasota, FL. We present ourselves not as partisan, nor affiliated politically, but attached to the issues highlighted within this site and focused on in our public programs. Forum Truth is a voluntary, not-for-profit organization providing information about important issues relevant to national and local elections to the citizens of Sarasota and Manatee Counties, the State of Florida, and the United States through a series of public forums and related activities.



Paul Duke, Honorary Chair, 1926-2005
Jim Bausch, Co-Chair, 1936-2006
Bob Atwell
Irene Bandy-Hedden (Chair)
Nancy E. Feehan
Wendy Grassi
Marilyn Harwell
Cooper Levey-Baker
Caren Lobo
Roy McBean
Molly McCartney
Jim McCartney
Lawrence A. Miller
Jeanne Nunn (Secretary)
Steve Schlossberg
Lois Seiden (Treasurer)
DeWanda Smith-Soeder
Ellen VanDernoot
Bernard C Watson

Paul Duke (1926-2005)
Paul Duke was a senior commentator for public broadcasting. He wrote for The Wall Street Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, The New Republic, The Reporter, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and many other illustrious publications. He was best known for his 20 years as moderator of Washington Week in Review, the longest running news program on PBS. During his 37 years of reporting on American politics, Duke interviewed virtually every important political leader of our time and covered most of the major Washington stories since the 1960's.

He received numerous awards, four honorary degrees, and was inducted into the Washington Journalism Hall of Fame. Of his career, Duke once said, "The greatest freedom is to be able to do what you like to do, and to me, there's nothing more rewarding than being able to pursue and publicize the truth..." (Back to Top)

Jim Bausch (1936-2006)
Jim Bausch had four decades of program, management and governance experience in the not-for-profit sector. He was Chair of the Senior Academy at the University of South Florida at the time of his death, and was formerly Chair of the Child Health Foundation, a trustee of World Learning and Independent Sector, and Secretary of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. He served as CEO of Save the Children, one of America's largest charities, and of the National Charities Information Bureau, predecessor to the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. He worked for several years as a program officer and manager at the Ford Foundation, and served for a dozen years as Vice President of John D. Rockefeller III's Population Council. He has been an advisor to the Community Foundation of Sarasota County and the Venice Foundation.

He was a successful business executive as Vice-Chair of The A. T. Hudson Company and President of Mackay Sports Arena, and a government official as Chief of the South Asia Division of the Peace Corps. He was one of America's first Peace Corps Volunteers (Bangladesh), was a university instructor at Emory University and Georgia Tech, and wrote on a wide variety of organizational and eleemosynary subjects. He maintained an active interest in international as well as domestic public affairs, and was a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, the National Peace Corps Association, Board Source, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. (Back to Top)

Bob Atwell
Mr. Atwell has had a 37 year career in public and private higher education. From 1984-96, he served as President of the American Council on Education, having served as Executive Vice President of ACE from 1978 to 84. He was Vice Chancellor for Administration of the University of Wisconsin, Madison and President of Pitzer College in Claremont, California. He currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Collegis, Inc., Education Management Corporation, Argosy University, EdVerify, Inc. and Eckerd College. He has served as a consultant for many colleges and university and is a consultant to the Association of Governing Boards. He chairs the State Policy Forum of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Atwell holds 17 honorary degrees and in 1998 was named by Change Magazine as one of the 21 outstanding leaders in American higher education. He is widely published including recent publications on Presidential Compensation, and Institutional Governance, both for the Association of Governing Boards. (Back to Top)

Irene Bandy-Hedden, Chair
Dr. Irene Bandy-Hedden has been an educator at the local, regional and state levels as a teacher, counselor and administrator. She received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Irene left her formal employment as the Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction in the Ohio Department of Education. During her tenure in the Department, she had responsibility for the policies and practices related to many areas, including teaching and learning. She worked as the liaison with the State Board of Education, Governor's Office, and the Legislature's Education Improvement Commission. She served on several national education committees and on the boards of several national organizations.

Irene has been president of PARAGON Communications, Inc. for about ten years. This consulting organization works with community groups, school districts, universities, and state departments of education in areas such as administrator organization plans, research and case studies on pertinent topics, and student assessment and achievement. Irene is trained in strategic planning and conflict resolution. (Back to Top)

Nancy E. Feehan
Before “retiring” to Florida in 1993, Nancy Feehan served as Assistant Attorney General for the State of Maine, representing its Department of Business Regulation. She also practiced law in Rochester, New York, first as a Criminal Defense attorney and subsequently as Counsel to a local broadcasting corporation.

In Sarasota, Nancy works as a Guardian ad Litem, representing abused and neglected children in the 12th Judicial Circuit and is President-elect of that program’s financial arm, the Children’s Guardian Fund, Inc. Most recently, the Supreme Court of Florida has appointed Nancy as a Florida Emeritus Attorney. She is also the President of the Democratic Club of Sarasota, one of the largest and most active Democratic clubs in Florida, and serves on the Steering Committee for the Democratic Party of Sarasota County.

Nancy is involved with a number of community organizations, including the Sarasota County Civic League, the League of Women Voters and SCOPE. She has worked on several political campaigns and served on the county’s Commission on the Status of Women. She lives in Osprey with her 2 teenagers, Brian and Cassie.(Back to Top)

Wendy Sears Grassi
Wendy Sears Grassi began her political career in the office of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and went with him to New York when he ran for the Senate. In 60s and 70s she worked in media relations for the New York Democratic State Committee and then joined the staff of Mayor John Lindsay. She worked in the Clinton Administration for the AmeriCorps program before moving to Sarasota in 1996. Since then she has been directing public affairs for the local Planned Parenthood affiliate and been active in Democratic Party organizing. (Back to Top)

Marilyn Harwell, Treasurer
Marilyn Harwell, a retired business book publisher, is a New York native and Brooklyn College graduate. As a 25-year Sarasota resident, she often has interfaced with local government on zoning and related issues and has played an active role in many nonprofit organizations.

As a nonpartisan, Marilyn has campaigned tirelessly and raised funds for both Democratic and Republican candidates on the local and national levels. She is a Past President of the Brandeis University National Women's Committee and was the first female President of Pelican Cove Condo Assn., and has served as Editor of both organizations' publications. Her community activities have included the Selby Foundation Scholarship Panel, Mote Marine Advisory Board, Reading Festival Steering Committee, Wellness Community Founding Director, League of Women Voters, UNIFEM and the Family Law Connection. Marilyn is a current board member of Jewish Family and Children's Service (JFCS), the Independent Transportation Network (ITN), Sarasota County's Human Services Advisory Council (HSAC) and is a participant in SCOPE's Community Change Workshops.She was part of the small group of dedicated individuals who created Forum Truth and served as its Treasurer from its inception in 2003 until she relinquished that responsibility in 2009, while remaining an active board member.(Back to Top)

Cooper Levey-Baker
The current editor of the Sarasota alternative newsweekly and website Creative Loafing, Cooper Levey-Baker grew up in Portland, Or., before moving to Sarasota at age 15. He graduated from Riverview High School in 1998, and then from Wake Forest University in 2002, before returning to Sarasota, where he began working as a writer. As a reporter at Creative Loafing, he served as events editor, music writer and arts writer, and the Arts Council of Sarasota County recognized Cooper for fiction writing in 2006, awarding him a John Ringling Fund Individual Artist Fellowship.

In December 2007, he quit his position at the newspaper to live and work in Venice, Italy, for four months, before coming home, where his freelance pieces appeared in the Pelican Press newsweekly, the glossy monthlyBiz 941 and the AirTran Airways inflight magazine, Go. In June 2008, Cooper was hired by the Barack Obama campaign as a field organizer, working with volunteers to register new voters and to reach out to existing voters. He was selected by the campaign to address a crowd of 13,000 at Ed Smith Stadium before then-candidate Obama spoke in Sarasota on Oct. 29. Partially as a result of Cooper's efforts, Obama posted the strongest numbers of any Democratic presidential candidate in Sarasota County since 1944, and very nearly became the first Democratic candidate to carry the county since FDR.

Currently, Cooper lives in Sarasota with his wife, Rachel, and his dog, Stormy. He joined the Forum Truth board in July 2009.(Back to Top)

Caren Lobo
Vice President and founder of Lobo Media Group, Inc., Caren and Richard Lobo co-founded the award-winning independent book store, Sarasota News & Books in downtown Sarasota. It was sold to new owners in 2005. In 1998 she initiated the partnership between the New College Library Association and Friends of the Selby Public Library that resulted in the creation of the Sarasota Reading Festival. Sarasota News & Books is a sponsor of the Festival that presents hundreds of major authors and literary programs and raises funds for Cook Library at New College and the Selby Public Library.

She is a member of the board of the Florida Humanities Council. She received the Selby Gardens' 2001 Visionary Award. In January 2001 she received the Women in Power Award from the National Council of Jewish Women. She also supports WEDU PBS TV, Emily's List, and Planned Parenthood. She has worked with management and marketing consulting firms in New York City, Cleveland and Chicago. While living in Miami, Caren co-founded SOFA-Miami, an international exhibition of Sculpture, Objects and Functional Art. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. (Back to Top)

Roy McBean
Born and raised in Harlem, Roy McBean is a product of the New York City Public School System and attended City College of New York. In his early career, Roy worked in the New York City Police Department, retiring after 20 years as Sergeant with the Police Department’s highest award, “The Medal of Honor.” He then became Assistant Director of Security at Lehman College during the era of student protests. Nine years later, he retired again but within two years was named Bergen County, New Jersey’s first Public Safety Director and Assistant County Administrator. After retiring permanently from the paid work force, he moved to Sarasota in 1987. Roy McBean’s volunteer activities in the northeast included coaching youth sports and serving as president of the county NAACP. In Sarasota, he has served on several city and county committees and on several boards, including the All Faiths Food Bank, Parks & Recreation, and the Police Officers Pension Fund. He has been President and/or Board Member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County, Florida Area Council of the Boys and Girls Clubs, United Way of Sarasota County, Ringling School of Art and Design, and Doctors Hospital. The McBean Boys & Girls Club in Sarasota and the Roy McBean Charter School are named in his honor; he also has been awarded several distinguished honors by the National Boys & Girls Clubs of America. (Back to Top)

Molly McCartney
Molly Sinclair McCartney is a retired newspaper reporter and public relations executive. She began her newspaper career in Texas with the Baytown Sun and later worked for the Houston Post, the Atlanta Constitution, the Miami Herald and the Washington Post. After 14 years at the Washington Post she became Public Relations Manager for the American Petroleum Institute, a trade organization representing the nation's largest oil companies.

During her 34 years in the newspaper business, she covered a wide range of stories: political races in Texas, lifestyle features in Georgia, telephone and electric rate increases in Florida, consumer and aging issues in Washington, D.C. She and her husband, Jim, are now retired from their Washington jobs and living on Anna Maria Island. She is president of the Westbay Cove Condominium, vice president of Common Cause Florida and a board member of the Pierian Spring Academy in Sarasota. Molly is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and a Nieman Fellow (possibly the most prestigious fellowship in journalism), Class of 1978, at Harvard University. (Back to Top)

Jim McCartney
Jim McCartney was a Washington correspondent and columnist for more than 40 years, first for the Chicago Daily News, then later for Knight-Ridder Newspapers, one of the nation's largest media chains. He continues to write regularly for the Bradenton Herald, as well as for the Tallahassee Democrat. His specialties as a reporter and columnist were national politics and foreign affairs, with special concerns for nuclear arms control and the Middle East. He covered more than 10 U.S.-Soviet summit meetings in the Cold War era and, in one way or another, every presidential election campaign from 1960 to present.

After retiring, he taught courses in foreign affairs and politics for more than 10 years at Georgetown University in Washington and now teaches in Sarasota at the Pierian Spring Academy. He will also be teaching at the Education Center on Longboat Key.

Jim is a graduate of Michigan State University and holds a master's degree from Northwestern University. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard. (Back to Top)

Lawrence A. Miller
Dr. Lawrence Miller is the President of the Sarasota City Parks Foundation, a non-profit organization focusing on enhancing services in city parks. Dr. Miller was also the former Assistant City Manager with the City of Sarasota, the first African American to hold such a position with the city. Dr. Miller has also had a wide and varied professional career as the Executive Director of Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities, Inc., (a multi human service agency in New York City) and as a Vice President for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority/ New York City Transit. This latter agency has over 68,000 employees and is the largest transportation agency in the Western Hemisphere. He has additional experience in the field of civil rights, as he was the Executive Director of the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission.

He has always endeavored to give back to the community as is evident from his long history of community involvement, such as hosting a television talk show on METV called “Community Showcase”, and as a member of Citizens Advisory Committee/MPO and First Step of Sarasota County. He has received numerous awards from such outstanding organizations as the Urban League of Long Island, National Assoc. of Negro and Professional Women’s Clubs, City University of New York, Paragon Cable TV, NAACP (Central Island Branch), and the National Assoc. for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education to name a few. Dr. Miller is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Rotary Club of Sarasota and Leadership Sarasota (Class of 2008). He graduated from York College (BA), Brooklyn College (MA) and received his doctorate from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio.(Back to Top)

Jeanne Nunn, secretary
A member of the labor law firm of Sachs, Nunn, Kates, Kadushin & O’Hare, in Detroit, Michigan, she practiced for 35 years specializing in the field of organized labor’s rights, civil rights and civil liberties; also active in many organizations working toward equality, tolerance, opportunity and social justice; she has been active with the Americans for Democratic Action, YWCA, Women’s Legal Fund, Sarasota Reading Festival, New College Library Association, Member of the Sarasota County Democratic Executive Committee; and a long time supporter of the NAACP, ACLU, League of Women Voters, Southern Poverty Law Center, Project Hope, Amnesty International. (Back to Top)

Steve Schlossberg
Stephen I. Schlossberg, former General Counsel of the United Automobile Workers of America (UAW), currently serves as a part-time consultant in policy and labor matters to a number of organizations. In addition to civic and public service activities, he serves as a certified mediator in the Sarasota courts. Most recently he served for seven years as director of the Washington Branch of the International Labor Office (ILO) and special advisor to the Director-General of the ILO. Prior to that Schlossberg served for over two years as U.S. Deputy Under Secretary of Labor for Labor Management Relations.

Mr. Schlossberg was general counsel and director of government affairs of the UAW for twenty years, working with Walter Reuther, Leonard Woodcock, and Douglas Fraser. At other times in his career, he was a partner in two Washington law firms and worked for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service as special assistant to the director. He also served as Senior Consultant to The Kamber Group, one of Washington’s leading public affairs firms. He started his career in labor as an ILGWU organizer in the South, where he was also active in the civil rights movement.

Mr. Schlossberg was an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he taught courses in labor law and negotiation. He is the author of Organizing and the Law, published by the Bureau of National Affairs. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia and served with the Army Air Corps in Europe in World War II. (Back to Top)

Lois Seiden
Lois Seiden is a retired advertising executive who co-founded a successful direct-marketing agency, enjoying the confidence of several major clients, including Procter & Gamble, MetLife, Barnes & Noble and Reuters. Early in her career, as an expert in media, she worked for the election of Edward I. Koch, first to congress, then to the post of mayor of New York City. Among her professional activities, she has been a monthly columnist for the publication Media & Marketing Decisions, a guest lecturer at the New York University Graduate Business School, and a consultant to renowned ad agency BBDO’s overseas direct-marketing agencies.

A native of New York City, she is a graduate of the City University of New York (formerly CCNY), and holds a degree in English Literature. Locally, she has served on the Board of Advisors for the Academy for Lifelong Learning and currently is a member of the Sarasota County DEC. (Back to Top)

DeWanda Smith-Soeder
An accomplished speaker, trainer, and group facilitator, DeWanda Smith-Soeder is President and principal consultant of Smith Soeder Enterprises, Inc., which is an umbrella company that consists of two businesses: a diversity management and organizational development consultancy that provides diversity training and change management; and the Black Business Professional Network, an online and event-based organization of over 450 Black business owners and professionals in Sarasota, Florida.

DeWanda brings over twenty years of corporate, business management and organizational development expertise to the company. After ten years with BP Oil Company in the areas of retail operations, organizational development and training DeWanda became the first African-American female owner operator of BP Convenience stores/gas stations. As an organizational development professional she has consulted with fortune 50- 500 corporations and small businesses spanning the non-profit, government, educational, and medical fields in the US and abroad. She holds a BS in Health and Human Services from Ohio University and a Masters in Psychology with a specialization in Diversity Psychology from the Diversity Management Program, Cleveland State University, (the first program of it kind in the US). In addition to being a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP), her professional affiliations also include certification from DDI (Development Dimension International), NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science, Accreditation in Emotional Intelligence from the famed Hay Group of Boston, MA, and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Cleveland State University.

She holds a Bachelor of Science – Health and Human Services from Ohio University and a Masters of Arts – Psychology from Cleveland State University.

DeWanda’s community affiliations include the following: Enterprise Zone Development Agency Advisory Board – Board Member; Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce – Member of the Executive Board; Newtown Redevelopment Office – Community Entrepreneur Opportunity Program – Council Member.(Back to Top)

Ellen VanDernoot
Ellen VanDernoot began her career in the Foreign Policy Division of The Brookings Institution. She has 30 years’ experience in business development, project management, and strategic planning, and has conducted systems and qualitative analysis studies for non-profit organizations. She was also a Manager at Ernst & Whinney, one of the major international accounting firms, for most of the 1980s during which time she conducted several international marketing research studies.

Ellen’s lifelong passion for politics comes from growing up in Washington, D.C. as the daughter of a political reporter. Her other passion is Asian art and temple architecture. She was Curator of the Museum of Asian Art in Sarasota from 1999 to 2002. At the Asian art museums of the Smithsonian Institution, she helped curate major international exhibitions on Southeast Asia. She has traveled extensively in Asia, taught a wide range of courses on Asian arts, and has led tours to China and Southeast Asia.

Ellen has an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. from the University of Michigan and a B.A from Boston University. She is currently Director of Grants at Mote Marine Laboratory.(Back to Top)

Bernard C Watson, Ph.D.
Bernard C. Watson, a Presidential Scholar at Temple University an former President and Chief Executive Officer of the William Penn Foundation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A career educator in the public schools of Indiana, he was also the Deputy Superintendent of the Philadelphia public schools, Professor of Urban Studies and Urban Education, an Academic Vice President of Temple University. In 1967, he was appointed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson to the National Council on Education Professions Development. In 1980, he was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the National Council on Educational Research. In 1994, he was appointed by President Clinton to the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. For many years, he was Senior Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Urban League.

He has served on numerous boards including the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, the Public Interest Law Center, and the National Urban Coalition. He was Vice Chairman of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Secretary of the New Jersey State Aquarium, and Chairman of the Board of Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts, Inc., he served as Chairman of the Board of the Healthcare Management Alternatives (HMA) Foundation, on the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority's Board, and has been a member of the United Negro College Fund's Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute Advisory Committee. In mid-1999, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Barnes Foundation, and is now the President.

Dr. Watson is the author of three books, 11 monographs, chapters in 31 books, and 33 articles in professional journals. He is the recipient of more than 100 major awards including the prestigious Philadelphia Award for 2001. He is also the recipient of 22 honorary degrees, and is a member of the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Watson earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He and his wife, Lois, are the parents of two children, Barbra, an attorney, and Bernard, Jr., a journalist. (Back to Top)